and other stuff, too.

March 26, 2018

Pitch Perfect 3

Why do comedies always need to be trilogies now? I can’t even remember the last time a comedy sequel was better or even as good as the original. Anyways, Universal and Elizabeth Banks are back to mine the same well for thankfully, enough fresh material to justify a movie.

Finally out of college, the former Bellas are finding life to be less than idyllic. Pining for that old glory, the tall, blond one whose name I don’t care to know, suggests that they give one last hurrah by singing on tour for the USO. The core of the group (Anna Kendrick) recently quit her job as a music producer because it was “too annoying” to work with a certain rapper, says yes. Which means the rest of them have to say yes.

Instead of touring say Iraq or Afghanistan or places the U.S military actually is, they travel to Spain and the French Riviera. Tough life. But since there’s no drama without competition, DJ Khaled throws down the gauntlet: the band that performs the best during the USO tour will open for him on his next tour. Which is incredibly unfair to the bluegrass band, in my opinion.

Also, Fat Amy’s dad (John Lithgow) shows up and he’s a career criminal, so there’s some more fun.

Let’s get it out of the way: yes, the singing is still fun and filled with some great hits. You’ll love it. Although the medley played by actual bands turns out to be the best song of the movie.

The girls are still funny. The director stayed away from the more stereotyping jokes of the previous films and instead focused on the in-jokes only a third film in a comedy trilogy can make. Like constantly pointing out the two useless members of the group. They also let Rebel Wilson run wild, which is always a good choice because she is fucking hilarious and gets all the best lines.

In the end, it’s clear someone edited the crap out of this movie. I can’t imagine how bad it was before the edits. It had to be at least two and a half hours long before. Now, it’s a watchable Red Box rental with enough left in the tank to entertain. Not the best note to end on, but certainly not the worst.